Autolycus (person)

The son of Hermes and Chione or Stilbe, the daughter of Eosphorus (see Daedaleon and Chione and Table 3). He is said to have married Maestra, the daughter of Erysichthon but this is certainly a late tradition. He was the grandfather of Odysseus by his daughter Anticleia (Table 35 and Table 39). He inherited the gift of stealing without ever being caught from his father, Hermes, and his thefts were very numerous. He stole a leather helmet from Amyntor, and give it to Achilles, who wore it during his nocturnal expedition with Diomedes against Troy. Then he stole some flocks in Euboea from Eurytus and he also, but unsuccessfully, stole some beasts form Sisyphus. To make his thefts impossible to detect he excelled in disguising the beasts, for example, by dyeing the skins of the oxen. According to some writers he even had the gift of transforming himself, and he taught Heracles the art of fighting. When Sisyphus was visiting in an attempt to recover his cattle, Autolycus married him secretly to his daughter Anticleia just as she was on the point of marrying Laertes.

Autolycus took part in the Argonauts' expedition. He was in some accounts said to be the grandfather of Jason since his daughter, Polynede, had married Aeson.